Barnako.com

Nathans to close July 12

The party’s over at the corner of Wisconsin avenue and M Street in Washington. 

Despite an extension on the lease for the iconic Washington, DC power eatery and bar, the site of many a tryst and a few political tussles, owner Carol Joynt has announced The End.  Blame the rotten economy, an impossible building lease, and more than a decade of financial hassles.

In an e-mail, she wrote, "We hope over the next week you will find the time to come in and enjoy a last drink and meal with us.  We wish we could give it away, but economic reality is that we need your dollars.  Also, if I may, I urge you to be please be generous with the staff."

Carol’s story goes back more than a dozen years.  I’ve said before it’s the stuff of a movie or a TV series, a story of a single Mom suddenly saddled with the dregs of her husband’s attitude of ‘the good-times-are-always here, and damn the paperwork and the taxes.’

Well, the Nathans saga is ending, literally.  Joynt’s been writing a book about her self-described nightmare, and maybe somebody will pick it up.  Meanwhile, she’s got two pro-bono lawyers who had been working mightily to find a way she could keep the business going but who now will have to offer advice about avoiding liens, judgments, and perhaps even the IRS.

You’ll be hearing from Carol.  Before her glamorous life as the wife of a DC bon vivant and restaurateur blew up, she was a savvy journalist and TV producer (Larry King and Charlie Rose.)  Now she will be able to get back to doing what she loves.

There should be more ‘early retirements’ at WaPo

You have to think, and hope, there are a few people at the Washington Post who have trouble sleeping the next few days.  Naturally, the publisher, Katherine Weymouth, should be one of them ... in terminal fear for their jobs.

(Are you reading this, Donald Graham?)  

Even the Post’s Ombudsman agrees the idea of inviting sources/lobbyists/influencers to diss and dine with Weymouth and her employees (don’t forget) was beyond the pale of logic.  Given my own experience at major media companies, it’s beyond belief that this dumb idea got further than a suggestion over having a coffee.

Most troubling is Ms. Weymouth’s involvement, her name being used in the sponsor-soliciting flier .

Without her knowledge?  Right! 

Given the Post’s financial issues, it is also clear now that there are substantial management problems, too. 

In her brief tenure, Weymouth appears to consciously trying to raise the Post’s profile well beyond paper and ink.  But in her zeal (exemplified by this photo and feature from Portfolio) there have been mistakes. 

At a minimum, she is trying way too hard.

Luring lobbyists and executives to non-confrontational conversations and drinks and dinner with reporters is absurd.  It’s enough to make one ask if this media company’s lineage included Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee  or that self-described ‘thug,’ Nick Denton.

Maine rain fills Freeport store

Last month was the fifth-rainiest June Maine has seen, ever.  And it doesn’t take a weatherman's Doppler radar to know that the first few weeks of the summer vacation season have been a bust for many businesses in the state.

Coincidentally, just as summer began, the legislature goosed the sales tax and hotel tax with the Governor saying that it would mean visitors would end up shouldering more of the state’s revenue load.  Maybe not this year.

But there is a bright spot.  L. L. Bean, the state’s largest private employer, seems to be benefiting.  “Rain means customers,” a sales person at the Freeport store said. She added that June ‘09 sales were ‘much’ better than June ‘08's. And a year ago the economy wasn't yet in the ditch.

It’s safe to say the rain has sideswiped many a business in the state.  Window shopping’s way off.  There are few people sitting eating at the lobster shacks. Clam diggers have been rained out ... it's just gone on and on.